Flydubai flight FZ1073: pilot stabbed co-pilot and tried to crash jet near Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said passengers and crew overpowered the attacker before the aircraft made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
One pilot on Flydubai flight FZ1073 stabbed the other and then apparently tried to crash the aircraft, which was carrying dozens of Israelis, on 30 September 2026, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Flight FZ1073 was travelling from the United Arab Emirates to Ben Gurion Airport in Israel when the attack happened. Passengers and crew staged a dramatic intervention to subdue the attacker, and the plane eventually made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu said.
About two and a half hours after leaving Dubai, the aircraft descended from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet in about a minute. It then flew an erratic circle close to the Jordanian border before landing in Tabuk roughly an hour later, according to Flightradar24 data cited by the Associated Press.
As the plane began to dive, a passenger and a crew member broke into the cockpit, Netanyahu said, citing an account from a passenger Netanyahu had spoken to. Other crew members then took over flying the aircraft.
“I salute these heroes who showed exceptional resourcefulness and courage. They saved many lives and prevented a major disaster,” Netanyahu said.
Defence Minister Israel Katz described the episode as “an attempted jihadist terror attack,” the outlet Biobiochile reported. “It was thwarted only thanks to the heroism of several Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit, overpowered the terrorist and, with their own hands, returned control of the aircraft to another crew member,” Katz said, according to Biobiochile.
Yasmin Abukasis said Abukasis’s daughter, who was on the flight, heard someone screaming “help!” as the aircraft began to lose control. Two people the daughter identified as pilots then regained control of the plane, while other passengers subdued the attacker on the cabin floor, Abukasis told the AP.
Passengers also told Israel’s Channel 12 by phone that they heard an altercation between the pilots from the front of the aircraft before it dipped steeply and headed for Saudi Arabia.
The plane’s captain and first officer were injured and taken to hospital, according to a statement from Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk carried by Saudi state broadcaster Alekhbariya.
Saudi Arabia arrested a pilot from the flight, Netanyahu said. Saudi Arabia and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations, though Saudi Arabia ended its ban on Israeli overflights in 2022 and has since coordinated other emergency landings for Israeli passengers, including one in 2023 after a plane suffered an electrical fault, the AP reported.
Flydubai confirmed that flight FZ 1073, en route to Ben Gurion Airport, “experienced an incident” and landed in Tabuk. “Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities,” the airline said.
Netanyahu called the episode an “extremely serious security incident” and ordered Israeli security agencies to prepare for “possible additional threats,” according to Biobiochile.